This Christmas (4 page)

“You’re going to see her, aren’t you?” Ryan had been watching Jake’s every move, waiting for him to say something.

Jake dried his skates with a small towel and stored them for the equipment manager. Then he got to the business of changing. “Yup. Anything I should know?”

“Watch out for my mother. She’ll castrate you if you aren’t careful.”

Jake figured if he’d escaped a beating from Ryan, he could get around Mrs. Gervais. The one he didn’t know how he was going to deal with was Sabrina. On one hand, he was so pissed he was ready to put a hole in the wall, on the other, he knew how badly he’d hurt her. What had passed between them didn’t have an easy fix.

“Anything else I should know? The blonde who was with her? One of her posse?”

“Yeah, that’s Jade. She’s the most reasonable of the bunch. They were all with her when she found out she was pregnant. Be thankful Cass isn’t out there. Or Elena or Kara. They’d be tying boulders to your ankles and tossing you off the end of the dock.”

Jake had to smile. He remembered Elena with her spiky, pink hair from that summer. The kid was rebelling fifty different ways and gave Sabrina’s mom a run for her money. Considering how Elena had lost her mom on 9/11, it was no wonder.

“My father is the quietest man alive, unless you mess with his family. He’s not going to be happy to see you.”

Based on what Ryan just told him, it wasn’t just Sabrina he was going to be dealing with but her mom, her dad, and all Charlie’s aunts.

And Charlie.

His daughter.

What was she going to do when she found out about him? Would she be shy, upset? There were too many things to think about, including his own family. What were his parents going to think? Jake took a deep breath as he pulled a thermal shirt over his head. They were going to be ripping pissed. His mother would blow that nice Canadian stereotype right out the window.

No, Jake was walking into a minefield. There was no way around it.

T
he drive home was long and quiet. Bree knew Jade had a thousand questions and Charlie had dozed off in the back seat, but even with her asleep, she and Jade wouldn’t risk talking.

Once they got back to Holly Point, she’d have to break the news to her mother and her daughter. Yeah, it was not going to be a fun night. Not at all.

Bree never thought this day would come. Jake had gone off her radar ten years ago and she never expected to see him again. She stayed tucked, safe and sound, in her little town, her dream of becoming a surgeon had been set aside to raise her baby. But even with all the challenges, she’d still managed a degree in athletic training and a clinical doctorate in physical therapy, specializing in the treatment and rehabilitation of upper extremity injuries in athletes.

She was growing herself a serious reputation, too. She treated players from the large state university about thirty minutes away and several pro teams had asked about sending their players to her for rehab. It was exciting, and helped her feel like she hadn’t compromised everything.

It had been a very long day for all of them. Finally arriving home, Charlie dragged herself up the front steps, exhausted but happy from her day and Bree should have been exhausted from her shopping adventure. But the house didn’t allow for negativity, and no matter what happened, Bree loved how she felt safe when she walked through the door.

The Gervais home was built more than a half a century ago when her father’s family left Brooklyn for the very rural eastern part of Suffolk County, on Long Island’s south shore. With an unexpected inheritance, her grandfather bought a two acre parcel of land on the water, built the house and grew his construction business. The man was an architect by training, but he loved the process of a building going up, so while he could design, Poppy made his money with his hands. The house itself had grown over the years and its grey, weathered, cedar shakes, large windows, and wraparound porch epitomized coastal living. Her mother and father had obviously been busy decorating the outside of the house while she was trolling the sales with Jade and Cass. When Bree pulled up, wreaths hung on the doors, pine garland was draped along the porch rails, and lights twinkled all over the yard. It was a wonderland and with the sudden burst of cold air coming down from the north and the prediction of snow flurries tonight, it actually felt like Christmas.

Bree had thought about buying her own house, but her parents loved having Charlie so close, and living with them kept their lives centered. It also gave Charlie more of a stable family life, with the give and take more than two people provided. Charlie had the normalcy of a family dinner every night, even if Bree had to work, because her parents were there. In the off season, Ryan made a point of coming out at least once a week.

Mom and Dad had been nothing but supportive when she told them she was pregnant. Were they upset? Sure, but they didn’t push when she wouldn’t tell them who the father of her baby was. No, Enza and Edwin Gervais had simply let her deal with her predicament, given her support, and loved her the best way they could. Personally, it was all Sabrina could ask for.

But a few years ago, her mother had discovered the truth and whether or not Mom told Bree’s father, she didn’t know. What she did know was that her mother would bring hell fire down on Jake if she ever saw him again.

Bree and Jade went into the kitchen while her dad went up with his granddaughter to hear about her day and hang her equipment up to dry in one of the extra bathrooms. Her mother was milling around, gathering ingredients for the marathon cookie baking that was going to take place tomorrow.

“So, how was the clinic?” Her mother continued to move haphazardly around the kitchen, wiping the counter, which was already spotless and opening and closing random cabinets and drawers. When Bree finally caught Mom’s eye, she could see she was fishing for information. Information she already had.

“Did Ryan call, Mom?”

When her mother’s face sobered, Bree had her answer. Of course he’d called. He probably wanted permission to kill Jake, but chances were Vincenza Bruno Gervais was going to call some long lost relative with “connections” to give Jake the punishment she’d always thought he deserved.

“Your brother is worried about you. I’m worried about you. How is Charlie?”

“I think she suspects. I have to talk to her. There’s no hiding it anymore.”

“I wish he’d just stayed away,” her mother blurted out. “We opened our home to him and he betrayed our trust.”

“Well, it takes two, you know.”

“You were so young and innocent, Sabrina. He should have left you alone.”

There was a lot of truth in what her mother said, she
had been
young and innocent when it came to boys. There had never been anyone before Jake and only a few dates here and there since him.

Bree didn’t think there would ever be anyone else again.

What her mother didn’t know was that her sweet, innocent Sabrina had been the one who made the first move.

It was odd, the way her relationship with Jake developed. They had become very close friends after he’d broken things off with his fiancée, sometimes sitting at the end of the boat dock, talking for hours at a time about anything and everything. It was during one of those late-night talks, when they were both tired, but didn’t seem to want to leave each other, that Sabrina leaned in and kissed him.

She didn’t know why she’d done it, other than that she wanted it. Sitting close to him night after night, listening to his deep voice, feeling the warmth of his body, she couldn’t think of anything she’d ever wanted more than that kiss. Considering the way Jake responded, he’d wanted it just as much as she had.

She closed her eyes and remembered that night like it was yesterday. It had been August, and already the nights were getting chilly. Bree, in a rush to see him, had gone out to the dock in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. Jake, on the other hand, had a button-down layered over a tee shirt. When a breeze had blown off the bay, she shivered, and he’d taken off his shirt and wrapped it around her.

Bree remembered how the shirt swallowed her up. He was so big and she had been a hundred and ten pounds, soaking wet, if that. But what really got her was the scent. It was warm and musky. Clean. And it went right to her head, her heart and intensified the heat radiating through her belly.

It intensified the want, the need, and before he could stop her, Bree stretched up and let her lips brush over his. It was nothing really, the tiniest peck, but it ignited something in him and in seconds Jake had pulled her onto his lap and cradled her in his arms.

He kissed her again, and again, nuzzling her neck, coaxing her lips apart and holding her so close Bree could feel everything. His hands were large and rough, but oh so gentle, as his fingers threaded through her hair, caressed her cheeks, and touched the skin of her lower back. Never, in all her life, would Sabrina forget how she felt, how he made her feel beautiful and brave. She remembered the shuddering breath Jake had drawn when he pulled back and examined her face.

That was the beginning. It was burned in her memory. Etched onto her heart. Three and a half months later, he came out from the city to break the news to her that Sydney was pregnant and he was going to marry her. His announcement destroyed her.

It was the last time she’d seen him until today.

“Sabrina?” Her mother’s hand had dropped onto her shoulder and it snapped Bree out of her trance. “You look a million miles away.”

“No, I’m just lost in the years, Mom.”

“Don’t get swept away by him again. He’s not worth it. He never was.”

Jade had fixed herself a cup of coffee, and leaned against the counter, thinking and absorbing everything being said around her. As usual, she offered her cool assessment of the situation. “Aunt Enza, you can say all you want that Jake should stay away, but I saw the way he looked at her today, and as angry as I’m sure he was, he’s a goner where Sabrina’s concerned.”

“Jade, really? You’ve always been so sensible. Don’t start spewing romantic mumbo jumbo.”

“Jade, I have to agree with my mother on this. Don’t make it more than it is.”

“Well, I might be
sensible
, but I’m not blind. There was no doubt about what was passing between the two of you at the rink.”

Easing herself into a chair at the kitchen table, Bree dropped her head onto her arms. “There was nothing passing between us.”

“Oh, come on,” Jade protested. “The smolder practically melted the ice.”

Bree clasped her arms behind her head. “I can’t let him get to me again. It’s bad enough I’m going to have to deal with him for Charlie’s sake, but I can’t think about anything else. Especially anything romantic.”

“I don’t know that you have much of a choice,” Jade said as she slid onto the kitchen chair next to Bree’s. “The feelings between you two are still there. I know you don’t want to feel anything toward him, but you’re already in the game, Sabrina, you have to let it play out.”

C
harlotte Gervais stood in front of the bathroom mirror, braiding her thick, dark hair. As she worked the different sections, Charlie wondered why she got called a boy all the time. She didn’t think she looked like a boy, she looked like her mom and Mom was beautiful. But every day she looked at herself and wondered what the mean girls at school would say next.

She secured the end of the braid with a hair tie and thought about the clinic. It had been an awesome day. She won four skills competitions and won the fastest skater award. And then there was Jake Killen.
Jake Killen.

The man she’d wanted to meet her whole life. Her father. The one she wished for every Christmas. The one she’d cried for. He was at the clinic today and based on the way he reacted, it was pretty obvious he never knew she existed.

Mommy had never told him.

But Charlie hadn’t been told anything either. If she hadn’t found the box in Mom’s closet last year she wouldn’t have been able to figure out the truth about Jake Killen being her dad when she met him today.

Grandpa was down the hall hanging up her equipment, and Charlie’s mind raced. Did she have more grandparents? Uncles or aunts? Cousins?